Workplace

Many companies have adopted a proactive approach to the environment, with the aim of utilizing natural resources more efficiently and reducing the environmental impact of production processes, transportation and products. From green chemistry to nanotechnology, any number of fields present opportunities for dramatic environmental improvements.

Some 325,000 tons of steel parts are cast each year in Swedish foundries, with the automotive and machine tools industries as the largest markets. Engine blocks, brake drums, pump housings and countless thousands of other products are manufactured in one-use casting forms made from sand, bentonite clay binder and hard coal powder. It’s been several decades since the discovery...

As much as we may love our electronic gadgets, most of us are less than enamoured of the batteries that power those phones, music players, cameras and computers. It’s not uncommon to replace the battery several times before the device has served out its useful life. Along with expense and inconvenience, too many of those batteries are not properly...

Controlling emissions from process industries and district heating plants generally leads to increased energy consumption and higher costs. To be sure, the pollution burden is lessened, but nobody gains when heat is released to the great outdoors. However, an integrated pollution control system that also recovers heat achieves the dual goals of environmental clean-up and energy efficiency. Such systems...

It’s been claimed that the IKEA catalogue is second only to the Bible among the world’s most widely distributed publications. Whether that particular factoid is true or not, the guide to affordable design put out by Sweden’s leading home furnishings retailer—with an annual circulation of about 100 million in some 40 different editions—has a huge readership. From modest beginnings...

After 30 years’ research in the field of nanoscience, there are today more than 200 products on the market which have been developed using this technology. The particles have long been used in coloured glass, but they are also increasingly being used as colour in tyres, paints, concrete, UV-filters in sunscreen products and in cosmetics. Nano surfaces which repel...

A lot of what is happening in the environmental and recycling industries is happening quietly and in stages. Improvements are rarely spectacular and so are rarely highlighted by the media. Nonetheless, progress is being made in the area of environmental sustainability which can generate significant gains, both for the environment and the tax-payer. Waste generated by the medical services...

One type of biotechnology which may lead to huge changes in a number of industrial sectors is industrial biotechnology. Industrial biotechnology means that enzymes and microorganisms are used in the processing and production of chemicals, rather than the current approach of using synthetic chemicals and fossil oil products as the starting point. The utilisation of renewable raw materials may...

Farsighted companies can turn many of the current environmental problems to their commercial advantage. For many years, the problems which politicians, scientists and the business sector have been focusing on have involved climate issues. To establish the commercial opportunities stemming from these environmental issues, companies need to know how society’s reactions to climate change affect the conditions for their...